I’m always keen to see what my competition is up to, both personal trainers in London and around the world. There’s one in the USA I’ve been following for a while, and his name is Alwyn Cosgrove, a highly successful personal trainer with his own gym, and several publications to his name.
Background
Alwyn Cosgrove was born in Scotland. He studied sports performance at West Lothian college, and went on to earn a degree in Sports Science at Liverpool University. In his youth he was heavily into martial arts, so fitness was in his blood from an early age.
Results Fitness Gym in California
Alwyn co-owns Results Fitness with his wife Rachel. The gym is based in Santa Clarita, California, north of Los Angeles. What’s so impressive about this husband/wife team is the passion they clearly have for their gym, and their members.
Every new member starts with a Results Fitness Strategy Session to formulate a customized programme, based on a series of fitness tests which includes a functional movement screen, to assess tightness/weakness/imbalance in each and every major muscle group.
Alwyn seeks to take the guesswork out of training, so he’s keen to assess each member thoroughly, and then monitor them throughout their membership. He explains on his website that no programme, however good, will work forever. As your body changes, so your programme must be modified to keep you challenged, or you’ll stop making progress.
As the popularity of Alwyn’s gym grew, so did the number of adjoining units, and now there are several units knocked into one, with several zones for different exercises. There’s a warm-up area with space for foam rolling, space for battling ropes, a cardio area, a group fitness area, and a free-weights area (with 3 heavy-duty squat-racks, more than most large commercial gyms).
TV screens on the walls around the gym show exercise routines that members can follow, a great idea to keep your workout on-track. And for more personal instruction, there are personal trainers on-hand to give you a one-to-one workout.
Alwyn made the deliberate decision not to have changing rooms and showers. Members come fully changed, then go home and shower. This is a clever business decision, as it cuts set-up costs, and maintenance costs too. One of the biggest complaints about gyms in the UK (and probably other countries too) is the poor state of the changing rooms and showers. Alwyn has eliminated this problem altogether. Another advantage: more square footage for gym-space.
Juice & Shake Bar
Alwyn’s wife Rachel runs the juice & shake bar, so members can relax after their workout and enjoy some post-workout nutrition. The golden 30 minute period straight after training is when the body most needs replenishment of fluids, carbs and protein, so members can take care of their nutrition needs right there.
Rachel says that the juice bar broke even within the first year, it was so popular. And there is a wide variety of freshly made fruit smoothies and protein shakes on offer. Rachel calls this area the ‘third place’ where members choose to hang out (the first two places being home and work).
Fitness books and articles
Alwyn Cosgrove has co-authored three books in a series called “The New Rules of Lifting”. One is called Six Basic Moves for Maximum Muscle. These are the squat, deadlift, lunge, push, pull, and twist.
Alwyn also writes extensively for magazines such as Mens Health, and for fitness websites like T Nation, the famous bodybuilding website.
So now you can see why I’m a fan of Alwyn Cosgrove. As a personal trainer in London, I’m keen to inject some of his passion and professionalism into my fitness business.